County Library Report Is Grim Reading : Services: Grand jury says new budget cuts will likely lead to branch closures and may imperil the system.

Still reeling from last year’s devastating budget cuts, the Orange County library system will likely close some of its 27 branches next year because of severe funding shortages, according to an Orange County Grand Jury report.

“The likelihood that library branches will have to close is a virtual certainty,” grand jury officials stated. “The future of the library system is in hands of the public.”

Jurors took the unusual step of urging residents to communicate their concerns to the County Board of Supervisors, printing the names and office telephone numbers of all five board members on the cover of their report.

“The conventional wisdom is that the current regime cannot continue for long before the system degrades to a point where the facilities have little utility as libraries,” states the report, which was released this week.

By next year, library officials expect a budget of $18 million, or $9 million less than what was allocated two years ago. Last year alone, more than $6 million was cut from the library budget, forcing a 40% reduction in service hours, the elimination of 75 full-time positions and a 75% cut in new book and magazine purchases.

Last year’s shortfalls were prompted by a state-mandated shift of local property tax money to pay for the California public school system.

The grand jury characterized last year’s budget process as “tantamount to hocking everything to cover a couple of mortgage payments.”

In a tour of six local branches, grand juror Bob Duley said, the panel saw “a general degradation of all the facilities” they visited.

“The periodical shelves, where you would expect to see publications of all kinds, are half empty,” Duley said Wednesday. “Computer equipment is down and not functioning, and there is not much maintenance. . . . It is a grim thing. I don’t know where the money is going to come from.

Although no specific branches have been identified for possible closure, County Librarian John M. Adams said that, unfortunately, the grand jury has provided an accurate portrayal of the system’s poor financial condition.

“The bottom line is that we have suffered a devastating loss of revenue,” Adams said. “It really is a terrible situation. The only bright spot, and it really isn’t one, is that other systems are doing even worse than we are.”

In Los Angeles County, for example, Adams said that officials might have to close at least 50 of the 80 remaining branch libraries because of similar funding shortages.

In Orange County, Adams is placing much hope in the work of a 15-member library task force recently created by the Board of Supervisors to recommend new sources of revenue for the faltering system.

The task force is expected to complete its report within the next several weeks, but Adams said officials already are considering several moneymaking possibilities, including hiking fees for overdue books and a new charge for placing personal book orders for publications not available in some local branches. Adams said the new fees were only proposals and no list of actual costs has yet been developed.

“I think we may be the last library system in the country that doesn’t charge a fee for ordering books,” Adams said.

State law strictly regulates the types of fees county libraries may charge. And the law relating to public library operations is widely interpreted to prohibit systems from charging patrons for traditional library cards.

“The libraries were established to be barrier-less access points to the world of information,” Adams said. “To start charging for library cards would be contrary to that philosophy.”

As a result, Adams said, the local system is considering a fund-raising program in which patrons would be presented with an additional “gold card” to recognize their financial contributions to county libraries.

“In the past, fund raising had not been a crucial necessity,” Adams said. “But this year’s budget is going to require either a significant reduction of services or a significant infusion of new revenue.”

Dwindling Library Dollars

Severe budget cuts to the Orange County Public Library in recent years will likely force the closure of some of its 27 branches next year. Library officials expect next year’s budget will be $9 million less than what was allocated two years ago. A look at the some of the library’s funding shortfall:

Expense 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 Salaries and $9,621,440 $11,100,069 $11,480,137 $12,819,229 employee benefits Equipment maintenance 382,084 423,200 559,448 473,233 Office 714,960 636,700 716,790 870,992 Equipment 356,004 335,800 334,700 356,900

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Expense 1992-93 1993-94 Salaries and employee benefits $12,693,108 $11,416,737 Equipment maintenance 479,035 167,728 Office 887,866 465,910 Equipment 161,370 5,500

Sources: Orange County Grand Jury, Orange County Public Library

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